Hard Sell Don Barber

If you spend 10 [thousand] on the projector and an equal amount on the screen and the audio, that's 20 grand. That's a healthy number. But my brother-in-law comes over and watches sports and occasionally gives me grief about, "I can't believe you've got all this money spent, yada, yada, yada." And I'm going, "Wait a minute. Last year, you bought that 22-foot bass boat, a new Suburban to pull that boat, plus extras. What's that, about 80 thousand dollars? And you're going to use that what, four times this year?" Everybody has their own version of the bass boat. When you start talking about that, people immediately sit down and think, "You're right." And this is something you're going to use multiple times a week, and everybody's going to have fun. If nothing else, you help them rationalize spending a lot of money.

Do you have to sell the concept of an installation too?

Ninety-five percent of the time. We have some do-it-yourselfer people, but that's a small percentage. We just tell them we'll come out and see the situation, and give them an estimate. Usually, there's audio and the screen, so it becomes more than just the cost of putting in the projector. But the cost has come down significantly from doing the three-gun. I figure one full day for two guys to put in and tweak a three-gun and for the others I'm looking at half a day.

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